Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and director, known for his work on television. He is best known for his roles as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series L.A. Law, and as retired police detective Henry Spencer on the USA Network comedy-drama series Psych, and as Roger Dorn in the films Major League (film), and Major League II. He has also appeared regularly on other shows, including General Hospital and Cuts.

Early life

Bernsen was born in North Hollywood, California, the son of Harry Bernsen, Jr., a Hollywood producer, and veteran soap actress Jeanne Cooper, who appears on The Young and the Restless. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1972. Bernsen is also a "double Bruin," having received both a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Acting career

After a two-year appearance on the soap opera, Ryan's Hope, Bernsen was cast as lawyer Arnold Becker on the new Steven Bochco television series, L.A. Law in 1986. The series became a huge hit, and the role earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, appearances on dozens of magazine covers, and guest-starring roles on shows such as Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show. He was one of the few actors to remain on L.A. Law for the entire run the show, until it ended in 1994.

Bernsen appeared with the British actor Bruce Payne in the films Kounterfeit and Aurora: Operation Intercept. He starred as the title character, Dr. Alan Feinstone, in the horror film The Dentist and its sequel. Bernsen was also cast as primadonna 3rd baseman, Roger Dorn, in the sports comedy Major League and appeared in both of the film's sequels. Bernsen appeared on General Hospital, where he portrayed John Durant from September 2004 until the character was murdered in May 2006.

Bernsen played Jack Sherwood on Cuts, appeared twice on Celebrity Mole, and played a lawyer on Boston Legal. He appeared as Q2 on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also had a recurring role as Captain Owen Sebring on the military drama JAG and played a Republican senator on two episodes of The West Wing. He directed, produced and appeared in the horror film Dead Air. Bernsen currently co-stars in USA's Psych, playing the role of Henry Spencer, the father of the main character, Shawn Spencer (James Roday). In the film Rust, Bernsen played a former minister who returns to his hometown.

Corbin Bernsen also appears in the official music video of "Howlin' For You", by The Black Keys.

Bernsen is currently directing a film titled 25 Hill, which is centered around the All-American Soap Box Derby, and is planning a baseball movie about zombies, called "Three Strikes, You're Dead."

He also appeared as a guest star in Switched at Birth, the Disney Family television series in Season 1, episode 22 (2012), "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time".

Bernsen is noted for borrowing Philadelphia radio personality Spike Eskin's peacoat in the hit movie Calendar Girl.

Producing career

Bernsen is president and co-owner of Public Media Works, a new media company that develops entertainment for targeted fan bases. He directed and starred in Carpool Guy, the company's first film; it was targeted at soap opera fans and released on DVD in 2005.

Bernsen's role at Public Media Works led him to follow up with Kyle MacDonald, the blogger behind one red paperclip. According to the book One Red Paperclip, in June 2006, Bernsen traded a role in the Public Media Works film Donna on Demand to the book's author, blogger Kyle MacDonald, for a snow globe of the band KISS. It was for this role that MacDonald eventually traded for a two-story farm house.

Bernsen is the founder and head of Team Cherokee Productions, an independent production company that, similar to Public Media Works, develops, produces and markets films and television shows for targeted fan bases. Along with Bernsen, the company is run by James Greilick, who is in charge of development. The company's latest film, RUST, was released in 2010.

Personal life

Bernsen has been married to British actress Amanda Pays since 1988. They have four sons.

In 2008, Bernsen and his family appeared on the NBC show Celebrity Family Feud, defeating the Margaret Cho family before losing to the crew from American Chopper.

Bernsen's mother is of Cherokee heritage.

Bernsen has one of the biggest snow globe collections in the world, with almost 7,000 snow globes.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1967	Clambake	Boy	uncredited
1974	Three the Hard Way	Boy
1976	Eat My Dust	Roy Puire
1987	Dead Aim	Webster
	Hello Again	Jason Chadman
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Arnie Becker	TV film
1989	Bert Rigby, You're a Fool	Jim Shirley
	Major League	Roger Dorn
	Disorganized Crime	Frank Salazar
	Breaking Point	Pike	TV film
1991	Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story	Morris Dees	TV film
	Shattered	Jeb Scott
	Dead on the Money	Carter Matthews	TV film
1992	Grass Roots	Will Lee	TV film
	Frozen Assets	Zach Shepard
	Ring of the Musketeers	Harry	TV film
	Love Can Be Murder	Nick Peyton	TV film
1993	Fatal Inheritance	Woodward Dawes
	Ghost Brigade	Col. Nehemiah Strayn
	Beyond Suspicion	Stan	TV film
1994	Guns of Honor	Brent Mallick	TV film
	The Soft Kill	Martin Lewis
	Bud Bowl V	Coach of Team Bud Light
	A Brilliant Disguise	Dr. Martin
	Trigger Fast	Brent Mallick
	I Know My Son Is Alive	Dr. Mark Elshant	TV film
	Final Mission	General Morgan Breslaw
	Major League II	Roger Dorn
	Savage Land	Quint
	The New Age	Kevin Bulasky
	Where Are My Children?	Tom Scott	TV film
	Radioland Murders	Dexter Morris
1995	Someone to Die For	Jack Davis
	Cover Me	Andre Solloway
	Dangerous Intentions	Tom Williamson
	Aurora: Operation Intercept	Flight Engineer Murphy
	Tales from the Hood	Duke Metger
	Tails You Live, Heads You're Dead	Neil Jones/Roy Francis Netter	TV film
	Murderous Intent	Brice	TV film
	Temptress	Nick
1996	Bloodhounds	Harrison Coyle	TV film
	Murder on the Iditarod Trail	Alex Jensen	TV film
	Baja	John Stone
	The Dentist	Dr. Alan Feinstone
	The Great White Hype	Peter Prince
	Inhumanoid	Foster Carver	TV film
	Bloodhounds II	Harrison Coyle	TV film
	Full Circle	Harrison Winslow	TV film
1997	An American Affair	Dist. Atty. Sam Brady/Sen. John Crawford
	Menno's Mind	Felix Medina
	Tidal Wave: No Escape	John Wahl	TV film
	Kounterfeit	Marty Hopkins
	Spacejacked	Barnes
1998	The Fairy King of Ar	Rob Preston	a.k.a. Beings
	Loyal Opposition: Terror in the White House	Secret Service Agent John Gray	TV film
	Major League: Back to the Minors	Roger Dorn
	The Dentist 2	Dr. Alan Feinstone
	Riddler's Moon	George	TV film
	Recipe for Revenge	Dr. Chester Winnifield	TV film
	The Misadventures of Margaret	Art Turner
	Young Hearts Unlimited	Brian	TV film
1999	Kiss of a Stranger	Mason
	Two of Hearts	Bruce Saunders	TV film
2000	Borderline Normal	Benjiman Walling
	Rangers	The Senator
2001	Apocalypse IV: Judgment	Mitch Kendrick
	Fangs	Carl Hart
	The Tomorrow Man	Larry
	Final Payback	Mayor Richardson
	Killer Instinct	Jennings Wilhite
	Raptor	Dr. Hyde
2002	I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus	David Carver
	Gentle Ben	Fog Benson	TV film
	L.A. Law: The Movie	Arnie Becker	TV film
	Atomic Twister	Sheriff C. B. Bishop	TV film
	Dead Above Ground	Mark Mallory
	The Santa Trap	Chief Tom Spivak	TV film
2003	Gentle Ben 2	Fog Benson	TV film
	Love Comes Softly	Ben Graham	TV film
	The Commission	Rep. Gerald R. Ford
2004	Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss	Steve	TV film
	They Are Among Us	Norbert	TV film
	Nightmare Boulevard	Jerry Martin
2005	Raging Sharks	Capt. Riley
	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	Harlan Dexter
	Ordinary Miracles	David Woodbury	TV film
	Carpool Guy	Michael
2006	Submission	Max
	The Naked Ape	Mr. Feldman
	Paid	William Montague
	Last Sunset	John Wayne
2008	House of Fallen	Rowland
	Depth Charge	Captain Richards	TV film
	Vipers	Burton	TV film
	Confessions of a Go-Go Girl	Nick Harvey	TV film
	For the Love of Grace	Captain Washington	TV film
2009	Donna on Demand	Ben Corbin	Also director
	Dead Air	Dr. F	Also director
2010	Rust	James Moore	Also director, writer, & producer
	25 Hill	Roy Gibbs	Also director, writer, & producer
2012	3 Day Test	Tom	Also director, writer
	Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Flying High	Dan Ellison	1 episode
1980	The Waltons	Casey	1 episode
1984"1985	Ryan's Hope	Ken Graham	5 episodes
1986"1994	L.A. Law	Arnie Becker	171 episodes
1990	Saturday Night Live	Himself	1 episode
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Q (uncredited)	1 episode
	Dear John	Blake McCarron	1 episode
1991	Out of This World	Chad	1 episode
1992	Seinfeld	Himself	1 episode
1993	Roc	Jim Larson	1 episode
1994	The Nanny	Glen Mitchell	1 episode
1995	A Whole New Ballgame	Brett Sooner	7 episodes
	In the Heat of the Night	Frank Cole	1 episode
1996"1997	The Cape	USAF Col. Henry 'Bull' Eckert	17 episodes
1997	Touched by an Angel	Eric Weiss	1 episode
1999	Tracey Takes On...	Jack Dayton	1 episode
	7th Heaven	Ted Grant	1 episode
	Twice in a Lifetime	Roger Stovall/Bill Water	1 episode
	Nash Bridges	Edward Jansen	1 episode
1999"2004	JAG	Captain Owen Sebring	8 Episodes
2000	Battery Park	Michael	1 episode
	The Outer Limits	Virgil Nygard	1 episode
	Son of the Beach	Big Red Johnson	1 episode
	Beggars and Choosers	Sandy Peretz	1 episode
	Yes, Dear	Gary Walden	1 episode
	Baywatch	Barry Poe	1 episode
2001	The West Wing	Henry Shallick	2 episodes
	V.I.P.	Zack Henley	1 episode
	Jack & Jill	Paul Barrett	2 episodes
	Citizen Baines	Nicholas Tassler	1 episode
2003	Miss Match	Stu 'Dr. Love' Scott	1 episode
	L.A. Dragnet	Richard Atkins	1 episode
	Celebrity Mole: Hawaii	Himself	3 episodes
2004	Third Watch	Carter Savage	1 episode
	NYPD Blue	Bob Cavanaugh	1 episode
	Celebrity Mole: Yucatan	Himself	2 episodes
2004, 2009"2010, 2012	The Young and the Restless	Father Todd Williams	12 episodes
2004"2006	General Hospital	John Durant
2005	Palmetto Pointe	Old Ballplayer	1 episode
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	William Hendry	1 episode
2005"2006	Cuts	Jack Sherwood	12 episodes
2006	Boston Legal	Eli Granger	1 episode
2006"Present	Psych	Henry Spencer	95 episodes
2007	Masters of Horror	Ira	1 episode
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Howard	1 episode
2011	Castle	Lance Hastings	1 episode
2011	Criminal Minds	Jerry Grandin	1 episode
Video Games
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Blue Heat: The Case of the Cover Girl Murders	Andre Solloway

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